Orkney August 2015: Part the Third

One of the reasons we returned to Orkney at this time of year was to see the excavations at the Ness of Brogdar. Today was the day we visited the site and, in a Neolithic splurge, we took in a couple of other sites as well.

The Ness is widely acclaimed as the most important Neolithic site in Northern Europe and its uncovering has been an ongoing project since 2003. Because of financial constraints (and the Orcadian weather), the work is restricted to 6 - 8 weeks during July and August. Each year more and more is discovered and the age of the site is being pushed back. It's now thought to date from the early Neolithic period (about 3500-3000 BC) but this could change as more is found out. A key finding is that what can be seen now is built on top of earlier buildings and these have yet to be properly investigated or dated. So how far back does it actually go?

What was the function of the complex of buildings at Brogdar? The archaeology rules out a domestic function and the theory is that its use was ceremonial in some way. Ah, ceremonial - a catch-all word for "we don't really know". Perhaps as the project continues and more of the site is revealed (about 10% of it has been uncovered so far), its function will become clearer. At the moment we can only speculate and marvel at what is there to be seen now.

One of the great things about the Ness dig is the way that it is open to the public. Throughout the season, free guided tours are given every day by one of the archaeologists and it is fascinating being shown around by someone who has an intimate knowledge, not just of the history of the site, but also the practicalities of doing the actual work. Our guide, Roy Towers, an academic in the Archaeology Institute at the University of the Highlands and Islands, was excellent, with a very easy going manner and very dry wit. If you want to follow what's going on at the Ness, you can access their daily dig diary/blog by searching for Orkneyjar. It's worth the effort as you can see history being uncovered as it happens.

We got there and the site was bare.....................

....because the army of diggers were on their mid-morning tea break!

But they were soon back hard at the scraping with trowels....

.....measuring everything meticulously......

...drawing and recording absolutely everything.............

...and carting away all the waste material - by the bucket and barrow full.

Because their function is unknown each structure is known simply as Structure 1 to Structure whatever. This is Structure 10 and is one of the largest.  That bump in the right background is the spoil heap used to tip all the waste. Guess what? It's right on top of a part of the site they want to dig next!

This shot was taken from the west corner of the site, with the paved entrance path to the right. This path/track/road extended way back and might even have linked this site with that of the Stones of Stenness. Did it have some ceremonial function? It was obviously built to impress.

Would you believe that this bit of precision stone walling is over 5000 years old?  When you remember that these were quarried and constructed without metal tools of any sort, it's an impressive feat. The nearest quarry was around 2 miles away so considerable effort was expended in just getting the materials to the site.

But don't get the idea that all walls were perfect. Take a look at the slopes and slump on the back walls of Structure 14. Two problems here: firstly, abutting walls were not interleaved so were unstable and, secondly, the walls were built on the foundations of earlier buildings, which were sinking. The archaeologists have yet to discover how many layers there are. They think that this building is one of the 'youngest' and speculate that some of the earlier building skills had been lost by the time Structure 14 was thought of. 

 

After the Ness, we travelled all of 2 miles but stayed within the Neolithic Age to visit (revisit) Maeshowe. Again its function is not really known and it's assumed to be, you've guessed it, 'ceremonial'. Burial chamber? Chambered tomb? Who knows but what is certain is that, at its core, is some amazing stone work making up the corbelled chamber.

Cameras were not allowed within Maeshowe and, although I did take a sneaky few, this is only one that is any good. This shows the low entrance passageway into the centre and this is formed from single large slabs of rock, some estimated at weighing over 30 tons. They were mostly quarried some 9 miles away so getting them to the site was yet another impressive feat.

After Maeshowe we completed our Neolithic Trilogy with a repeat visit to the village of Scara Brae. Always an intriguing place to visit and a visit enhanced by learning more through the dig at the Ness.

The open skies of Orkney give great sunsets. This one was changing as we looked at it and was in front of us all the way back from our evening meal (at the Foveran where we dined on North Ronaldsay mutton - a unique breed of sheep that only eat seaweed as they are banned from the grassy areas of the island).